Motorcycle speeder
Discussion
Folks,
A good friend of mine has approached a motorway speed trap van too quickly on his 600cc sportsbike. He is a worrier and doesn't want to ask about it himself.
Anyway he says that he saw it in the far distance and did slow and pull back into the middle lane. The van was on a motorway road bridge and the panel for the camera was open and pointing towards him. He thinks the camera might be just in one direction and of course his bike has no front number plate. However, he is not sure and is going to be talking to me about it for at least month if a ticket doesn't arrive.
Does anyone know if the vans are one directional or do they have cameras operating on both sides? The road bridge was not a roundabout bridge (which would have obscured the other way) but on an ordinary two lane road.
I don't have an answer for him.
Anyone know?
Philos
PS - He thinks he was within the legal limit once under the road bridge and past it.
A good friend of mine has approached a motorway speed trap van too quickly on his 600cc sportsbike. He is a worrier and doesn't want to ask about it himself.
Anyway he says that he saw it in the far distance and did slow and pull back into the middle lane. The van was on a motorway road bridge and the panel for the camera was open and pointing towards him. He thinks the camera might be just in one direction and of course his bike has no front number plate. However, he is not sure and is going to be talking to me about it for at least month if a ticket doesn't arrive.
Does anyone know if the vans are one directional or do they have cameras operating on both sides? The road bridge was not a roundabout bridge (which would have obscured the other way) but on an ordinary two lane road.
I don't have an answer for him.
Anyone know?
Philos
PS - He thinks he was within the legal limit once under the road bridge and past it.
Edited by Philos on Wednesday 18th November 10:26
The usual thought is if you've already seen the van, you're too late, they've got you.
Yes they are one directional but they normally have a camera pointing the other way to get numberplates. That's how it works when parked up on the side of the road, not sure how that would work on a motorway bridge.
Yes they are one directional but they normally have a camera pointing the other way to get numberplates. That's how it works when parked up on the side of the road, not sure how that would work on a motorway bridge.
NIP required.
Is 'your friend' the registered keeper of the vehicle & are all his details up to date?
Service of NIP required to the registered keeper within 14 days of the date of the offence not including the day itself or it's out of time.
If he isn't the registered keeper then providing service is to the RK within the 14 days it's good.
If he is but has moved recently & details haven't been changed then service to the address held by DVLA is good.
Plenty on S,P&L, look for posts by agtlaw.
Is 'your friend' the registered keeper of the vehicle & are all his details up to date?
Service of NIP required to the registered keeper within 14 days of the date of the offence not including the day itself or it's out of time.
If he isn't the registered keeper then providing service is to the RK within the 14 days it's good.
If he is but has moved recently & details haven't been changed then service to the address held by DVLA is good.
Plenty on S,P&L, look for posts by agtlaw.
Edited by paintman on Wednesday 18th November 11:30
Scrump said:
From experience I know they can take a picture of a bike’s rear plate. 
Whilst this is correct under certain circumstances, it's not correct for all & i'm hazarding a guess that on a Motorway bridge your pal may have slipped the net (unless it's a single track bridge).If a regular road bridge over the motorway, the camera facing the other way would not have clear line of sight down onto the motorway carriageway heading away from it, as would be parked up on the kerb/pavement on the one side where the cameras were visible.
Dibble said:
It doesn’t need a camera to record the number plate as the bike (or any other vehicle) passes. Mk I Eyeball, a pen and a bit of paper will do.
Would have to be a very quick Plod or Operative & one with exceptional eyesight to see a fast approaching motorcycle on the motorway, await the bleep indicating a speeder, then jump out the van, carefully cross the road & read the bikes number plate from a bridge.Not saying it can't be done, but would certainly be something worth watching.
Still think in this case the rider will have got away with it & assuming he/she wasn't being a total c0ckwomble then i guess it's a result.
Folks,
Thanks for all the replies.
We both took a drive to the spot today and the van was there again! So, we parked well out of the way and walked over the bridge. We were able to examine the van closely and could see an outline of the guy inside, through a blacked out window. He was parked hard up against the railing with the window slid open towards the motorway, but the window facing the other way was closed. I looked carefully over the exterior of the van and I couldn't see anything like a camera, even like a small go-pro. Also the road was quite wide (white line in the middle) and there was a fairly high metal fence on both sides of the road. I could see that there was not line of sight from the window level on this side of the van without obstruction by the railings.
OK, this might be clutching at straws but I wanted to help out. My friend is an older rider (72) and he is a keen collector and rider of 1990s sports bikes. His hobby is his life TBO. He told me that lock down had got to him and he just wanted a local ride, and forgot himself once on the bike. I can understand that.
He has a clean licence but six points at this time might be with him right to the end of his riding life. I have advised him to expect the six points and then if lucky it is a bonus. As one poster pointed out, the NIP will be the hard fact and it should be clear within a couple of weeks what is happening.
P.
Thanks for all the replies.
We both took a drive to the spot today and the van was there again! So, we parked well out of the way and walked over the bridge. We were able to examine the van closely and could see an outline of the guy inside, through a blacked out window. He was parked hard up against the railing with the window slid open towards the motorway, but the window facing the other way was closed. I looked carefully over the exterior of the van and I couldn't see anything like a camera, even like a small go-pro. Also the road was quite wide (white line in the middle) and there was a fairly high metal fence on both sides of the road. I could see that there was not line of sight from the window level on this side of the van without obstruction by the railings.
OK, this might be clutching at straws but I wanted to help out. My friend is an older rider (72) and he is a keen collector and rider of 1990s sports bikes. His hobby is his life TBO. He told me that lock down had got to him and he just wanted a local ride, and forgot himself once on the bike. I can understand that.
He has a clean licence but six points at this time might be with him right to the end of his riding life. I have advised him to expect the six points and then if lucky it is a bonus. As one poster pointed out, the NIP will be the hard fact and it should be clear within a couple of weeks what is happening.
P.
ds.Philos said:
He has a clean licence but six points at this time might be with him right to the end of his riding life. I have advised him to expect the six points.....
Why do you expect him to get six points? Do you know what speed he was doing (or at least what speed he said he was doing)?
If so, what was his speed?
NGee said:
Philos said:
He has a clean licence but six points at this time might be with him right to the end of his riding life. I have advised him to expect the six points.....
Why do you expect him to get six points? Do you know what speed he was doing (or at least what speed he said he was doing)?
If so, what was his speed?
I don't know, but I know my friend pretty well and by the look on his face it was 'fast'.
He said he was just looking at the rev counter, which, to me, is a bad sign. I'm thinking that at his age it might be better to have a short ban rather than six points on him for 4 years. Anyway, it is out of our hands now.
Thanks all, and ride safe.
P.
Pothole said:
Why? I really don't understand the aversion to points.
Agreed. I hope that I’m still bombing around on my bike in my seventies. If I don’t have points then I’m not having enough fun. At a certain age even a ban wouldn’t stop me from riding. Look at all the utter scroats on the cop tv shows. No tax MOT or insurance. Breaking a huge amount of rules and they get a fine of a few hundred quid. I intend to become a hooligan in my old(er) age. 
All a bit tongue in cheek before I get shot down.
It could have been a camera van for catching speeders. (they tend not to prosecute if under 80 mph, but even that depends on which Force area) or, it could have been an ANPR van, with an intercept patrol some distance up the motorway waiting for a radio call from the camera operator.
Within 14 days he'll have his answer.
Within 14 days he'll have his answer.
w8pmc said:
Would have to be a very quick Plod or Operative & one with exceptional eyesight to see a fast approaching motorcycle on the motorway, await the bleep indicating a speeder, then jump out the van, carefully cross the road & read the bikes number plate from a bridge.
Not saying it can't be done, but would certainly be something worth watching.
Still think in this case the rider will have got away with it & assuming he/she wasn't being a total c0ckwomble then i guess it's a result.
I spoke to a speed van camera operator about this very subject. In his van he had clear sight out of the front and back of the van.Not saying it can't be done, but would certainly be something worth watching.
Still think in this case the rider will have got away with it & assuming he/she wasn't being a total c0ckwomble then i guess it's a result.
When any bike was approaching, he would get quite a bit of notice that it triggered the speed limit, so would just look out the back and record the reg plate with a pen and paper.
As far as I’m aware most do this.
Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff